IBM Maximo for Civil Infrastructure is designed to assist organizations in better managing, monitoring and maintaining their infrastructure assets. ARMONK, NY Oct. 14, 2020 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new capabilities in IBM Maximo for Civil Infrastructure to help prolong the lifespan of aging bridges, tunnels, highways, and railways. New enhancements include the ability to deploy on Red Hat OpenShift for hybrid cloud environments, as well as new AI and 3D model annotation tools that can provide deep industry and task-specific insights to support engineers. By helping facilitate off-site inspections, advanced analytics and predictive maintenance, IBM Maximo for Civil Infrastructure is designed to assist organizations in better managing, monitoring and maintaining their infrastructure assets. In the United States roughly $2 trillion in infrastructure repairs were unfunded in 2015, according to the 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card. And around the world, the prevalence of aging infrastructure threatens the continuity of day-to-day life for citizens worldwide. Owners, operators and engineers need to be able to improve their ability to decide where, when and how to address infrastructure issues with critical assets that must endure for generations. [embedded content] IBM Maximo for Civil Infrastructure can consolidate numerous sources of data including maintenance and design details; near real-time IoT data generated from sensors; wearables from workers; stationary cameras and drones and weather data from The Weather Company, to identify and measure the impact of damage such as cracks, rust and corrosion, as well as displacement vibrations and stress. These insights can help organizations more proactively manage and prioritize infrastructure repair and reduce the need for time-intensive manual inspections and unnecessary costs. “Tools like AI, predictive maintenance, drones and hybrid cloud will play an important role in meeting the challenge of rising infrastructure costs, and helping these vital structures endure for future generations,” said Bjarne Jørgensen, Executive Director, Asset Management at Sund and Baelt. “These solutions can help determine the exact need for maintenance in near real-time to assist organizations in extending the lifetime of structures.” IBM Maximo for Civil Infrastructure incorporates AI visual recognition tools developed by IBM Research to allow civil engineers to make structures come alive using 3D modeling. Capabilities like Maximo Visual Inspection can make it easier to identify defects, their root-cause, and place them in the context of the greater structure to perform rapid assessments to better prioritize maintenance decisions that target critical repairs. These tools can be increasingly important for future engineers as skills availability may be a challenge. "Infrastructure maintenance is a problem that’s being compounded from all sides: Bridges are getting older, payloads are getting larger, and the necessary preventive actions and maintenance are often postponed due to lack of funding,” Jørgensen added. "With Maximo for Civil Infrastructure, IBM is introducing a solution that addresses the problem from all sides, using IoT and AI technology to administer more proactive repairs, maintain invaluable institutional and engineering knowledge, and better prioritize resources.” “Maximo for Civil Infrastructure was developed with input from some of the largest operators of infrastructure in the world so that IBM’s powerful technology across AI and IoT is carefully adapted to the unique needs of civil engineers,” said Joe Berti, VP of AI Applications at IBM. “With these tools we believe civil engineers will be able to innovate and improve the process of monitoring, maintaining and preserving important structures around the world.” IBM Maximo for Civil Infrastructure provides the following new capabilities, in addition to the core offerings available as part of the IBM Maximo Application Suite. Maximo Application Suite licensing and Open Shift deployment: With a single license, customers can now deploy asset management, sensor integration, advanced data analytics including AI functionality and visual analytic capability. Capabilities including Monitor and Health can be deployed now on RedHat Open Shift, which allows customers to more quickly deploy, manage and scale their hybrid cloud deployments with ease. Defect Management: A new user interface that records defect information, adds multi-variable defect rankings, attaches pictures, and stores history for defects. Structural defects do not exist in isolation, they can affect everything they touch and the integrity of the overall structure. By comparing detected defects against work history, sensor data, weather and traffic data and more, AI can help engineers better identify root causes and patterns that indicate a defect may reoccur.  Improved 3D Visualization: Most serious defects are located within the structure and are not necessarily visible from the outside. However, new tools within the Maximo BIM viewer plugin allow users to add annotations to their standard 3D models, giving users access to a 3D representation of an asset, for example a pillar or beam, where all the defects have been annotated on that asset.  Asset Loader Improvements: While every piece of civil infrastructure is unique, many share common hierarchies of assets, and some organizations have hundreds or even thousands of similar bridges that need to be defined in the asset management system. To streamline the process, a new tool to better manage import and export of an asset hierarchy, including a new UI to manage imports and exports and the process of selecting files, is now available.  IBM Maximo for Civil Infrastructure integrates 30 years of recognized industry-leading infrastructure asset management with best-in-class models from the world's premier infrastructure firms. It helps operators and engineers address one of the world's largest and most complex challenges — extending the lifespan of critical structures under frequently changing conditions. You can read more about how some of its capabilities were developed here. About IBM MaximoPowered by IBM's investments in artificial intelligence, fueled by IoT data, and built for hybrid cloud, The IBM Maximo Application Suite is extending its leadership as one of the most trusted enterprise asset management systems on the planet. And with new investments in remote monitoring, computer vision and AI-powered anomaly detection, it is poised to remain a leading solution for tomorrow's asset management challenges, empowering Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) leaders with a comprehensive view into asset performance. For more information please visit: www.ibm.com/products/maximo. Media Contact:Holli HaswellIBM Director, External Relationshhaswell@us.ibm.com

IBM to help power interactive and analytical content for the Overwatch League, engaging fans and players through cloud, IBM's Watson artificial intelligence, and machine learning ARMONK, N.Y. and IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, IBM and the Overwatch League™, the world's first global esports league with 20 city-based teams, announced its first-of-a-kind multi-year deal to bring IBM's cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to esports. A sponsorship component kicks off at this year's 2020 Overwatch League Grand Finals, which started Oct. 8 and run through Oct. 10. With the agreement – IBM's first-ever esports deal – the technology leader becomes the official AI, cloud, and analytics sponsor of the Overwatch League. The deal covers the 2020 Grand Finals and the entirety of the 2021 and 2022 Overwatch League seasons. Through the course of the deal, IBM and the Overwatch League plan to leverage IBM's suite of advanced cloud and AI products. Starting in 2021, IBM and the Overwatch League will be working closely to develop technology solutions leveraging IBM's expertise in natural language processing and machine learning to improve the league's rankings system, and utilize IBM's Watson AI capabilities to create live and in-broadcast predictive analysis, with specific solutions currently under development. "We're constantly striving to give fans the ability to more meaningfully engage with the Overwatch League, and teaming up with IBM enables us to do just that," said Brandon Snow, Chief Revenue Officer of Activision Blizzard Esports. "IBM's cutting-edge AI and machine learning, underpinned by cloud technologies, will help enable us to bring interactive and innovative engagement opportunities to our fans and teams. This is a fantastic benefit to our viewers, and we're very excited to be announcing it during the biggest event of our season." "We're thrilled to bring our world class Cloud platforms and Watson portfolio to one of the leading esports platforms in the world," said Noah Syken, Vice President of Sports & Entertainment Partnerships, IBM. "The solutions we're partnering to create can help the organizations, players, and fans enjoy an even more immersive, engaging experience. We look forward to working with the Overwatch League, to bring innovative solutions at scale, to broad and relevant audiences." The sponsorship with the Overwatch League will kick off in 2021 and include new solutions, that plan to be hosted on the IBM Cloud. Those solutions, which are currently under development, will leverage IBM's suite of analytics tools to process in-match data, adding Watson's AI capabilities through the use of Watson Machine Learning and the AutoAI functionality within Watson Studio. Additionally, the solutions will find new ways to showcase the wide array of historical statistics that the Overwatch League gets from live play.  The announcement of IBM and the Overwatch League teaming together is IBM's first foray into the global world of esports and joins an impressive list of sports and entertainment partnerships that IBM technology powers around the world. IBM has been a part of gaming history as a hardware manufacturer, chip creator, and software provider for developers since 1985. Over the past 35 years, IBM has worked with gaming and esports entities through PowerPC processors, NLP, and cloud technology. IBM has been a long-time partner to a range of sports organizations, teams, and events, including tennis (US Open and Wimbledon), golf (The Masters), football (via ESPN Fantasy Football), and the GRAMMY Awards. Through IBM's partnerships, including IBM's new engagement with the Overwatch League, IBM is able to reimagine sports, and entertainment experiences for fans, players and coaches alike, leveraging the flexibility of the hybrid cloud, and other AI-powered solutions. About IBMFor more information about IBM, visit ibm.com/news. About the Overwatch League™The Overwatch League™ is the first major global professional esports league with city-based teams across Asia, Europe, and North America. Overwatch® was created by globally acclaimed publisher Blizzard Entertainment (a division of Activision Blizzard—Nasdaq: ATVI), whose iconic franchises have helped lay the foundations and push the boundaries of professional esports over the last 15 years. The latest addition to Blizzard's stable of twenty-two #1 games,* Overwatch was built from the ground up for online competition, with memorable characters and fast-paced action designed for the most engaging gameplay and spectator experiences. To learn more about the Overwatch League, visit www.overwatchleague.com. About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.Best known for blockbuster hits, including World of Warcraft®, Hearthstone®, Overwatch®, the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises, and the multi-franchise Heroes of the Storm®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (https://www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment's track record includes twenty-two #1 games* and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's online gaming service, Blizzard Battle.net®, is one of the largest online-gaming services in the world, with millions of active players. *Sales and/or downloads, based on internal company records and reports from key distributors. About Activision Blizzard EsportsActivision Blizzard Esports (ABE) is responsible for the development, operation, and commercialization of Activision Blizzard's professional gaming properties including the Overwatch League™, the Call of Duty® League™, Call of Duty Challengers™, Hearthstone® Masters, StarCraft® II esports, Warcraft® III: Reforged™, and the World of Warcraft® Arena World Championship and Mythic Dungeon International, among others. ABE also operates Tespa, the leader in collegiate esports. It is ABE's vision to be the most innovative, scalable, and valuable developer of global competitive entertainment. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves the Overwatch League's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the collaboration with IBM, including the development of technology solutions, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause the Overwatch League's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays, the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to the Overwatch League and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither the Overwatch League nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of the Overwatch League or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Contacts IBM Angelena AbateAngelena.Abate@IBM.com Overwatch LeagueKevin Scarpatikscarpati@overwatchleague.com SOURCE IBM

-Recognizes IBM’s contribution to advance Machine Learning innovation from IBM Research to commercialization and to optimize solutions in…

Expanding AI Advertising Suite to Strengthen Brand, Publisher and Consumer Value Exchange in a Privacy-Forward Future NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced three new products to add to its growing suite of AI solutions for brand and publishers. The new capabilities are privacy-forward and designed to allow brands to reach consumers while considering user privacy. IBM intends to work with industry leaders, including Xandr/AT&T, Magnite, Nielsen, MediaMath, LiveRamp and Beeswax to help scale the use of AI across the industry. The announcement was made this morning at Advertising Week's digital-first virtual event #AW2020. "While the advertising industry strives to re-emerge strong from the global economic and societal issues we faced this year, it's also deep in the throes of a major transformation with changes to mobile identity, certain elimination of third-party cookies, compliance and regulatory shifts and increased demand for trust and transparency," said Bob Lord, SVP, Cognitive Applications and Blockchain, IBM. He added: "We believe AI will be the 'backbone' of the new era as the industry prepares for the next generation of advertising. We're using AI to help solve problems across the advertising industry, just like IBM has in countless other industries like Healthcare, Financial Services and Retail. Our work will be a step forward in our evolution to meet the advertising industry's upheaval, and we are proud to help the advertising industry advance with the value of AI." The IBM Watson Advertising suite of solutions leverages AI to help clients make informed, data-based decisions. Expanding on recent additions to the suite, including Watson Advertising Accelerator, Watson Advertising Social Targeting with Influential and Watson Advertising Weather Targeting among others, the planned AI-enabled capabilities include: Extensions for IBM Watson Advertising Accelerator: Enhanced video and OTT capabilities available in the coming months that are expected to leverage Watson Machine Learning, to help enable marketers to pivot video advertising creative based on individual user reaction.  IBM Watson Advertising Attribution: Beta Solution available in the coming months that leverages Watson Machine Learning, which allows marketers to accurately quantify the efficacy of their advertising spend while understanding intent and performance drivers. IBM Watson Advertising Predictive Audiences: Solution leverages Watson Discovery, to help enable marketers to progress beyond 'look-alike' to 'do-alike' segments in a privacy-forward format to reach consumers that exhibit similar behaviors.    A New Ecosystem to Accelerate AI Adoption and in Advertising IBM plans to bring its toolset to industry leaders including Xandr/AT&T, Magnite, Nielsen, MediaMath, LiveRamp and Beeswax to help make it accessible across the advertising ecosystem. The companies will have an opportunity to drive the next generation of IBM advertising technologies to help reinstate trust in the marketplace. IBM Watson can offer increased AI capabilities for businesses across language, automation and trust. The planned capabilities from IBM Watson Advertising will be designed to help infuse trust and transparency into the advertising ecosystem. IBM is negotiating definitive agreements with Xandr/AT&T and Magnite. "We're currently leveraging IBM's AI through The Weather Channel, an approach that helps us use data to create meaningful and respectful experiences with consumers in the moments they need us most," said Rand Harbert, Executive Vice President and Chief Agency, Sales & Marketing Officer, State Farm. "IBM has evolved from an advertising partner to an AI partner, enabling us to help our customers and prospective customers better prepare and respond during life events." "The advertising industry is undergoing rapid change and we're infusing AI into our platform to better equip independent publishers in a sea of walled gardens," said Tom Kershaw, CTO, Magnite. "We're proud to stand with IBM, a company rooted in advanced technology, to deliver on the promise of an open web and solve the mounting challenges facing independent publishers."  "Across WPP, we are committed to helping our clients navigate the disruptive trends that have been building for some time," said John Dunleavy, Global President, Eightbar. "We've seen firsthand the important role AI can play in mitigating bias and making data useful so that every constituent - brands, content owners and most importantly consumers - can have authentic, relevant and meaningful interactions." "The opportunities for AI are immense--and we're already seeing real value within the retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry," said Arun Ramaswamy, Chief Technology Officer, Global Consumer Business, Nielsen. "AI algorithms have vast potential to reinvigorate the brand-consumer trust dynamic by leveraging mathematical techniques that remove biases in the data consumers provide before they lead to improper results and interpretations. And within an open, cloud-based ecosystem, having the right, robust, high-quality data fueling AI is paramount to better understand and predict purchasing habits, and thereby inform marketing and advertising efforts." "AI technologies are transforming organizations and freeing up employees to do higher-value work," said Victoria Petrock, Principal Analyst, Emerging Technology, Insider Intelligence. "For marketers and advertisers, AI is already disrupting core functions, including ad targeting, media buying, content creation and propensity modeling." "Data is the key to increasing engagement across platforms that deliver premium content," said Grant Ries, SVP of Marketplaces & Emerging Business at LiveRamp. "We're thrilled to connect our Marketplace with IBM AI to deliver actionable insights, at scale, across the ecosystem in order to help partners thrive in an undefined future. As the digital marketing industry evolves, it's more essential than ever to rely on trusted partners to preserve the integrity of the open web." "AI is no longer an emerging technology, it's here, now and the digital ecosystem must lean in to realize its full value beyond media buying and selling," said David Cohen, CEO, IAB. "I am thrilled to see IBM, with its deep roots in artificial intelligence, take on a leadership role to develop CTV and attribution solutions for the next generation marketplace." "It's in our DNA to empower our clients and partners with the tools to establish deep and trusted connections with consumers at scale," said Joe Zawadzki, founder and CEO, MediaMath. "As inveterate champions of the power of math and science in marketing, we are eager to usher in a new era of enterprise applications into our industry and are excited to expand our partnership with IBM to introduce their world-class capabilities to an open web that keenly needs them." "We're thrilled to help power IBM Watson Advertising with our Bidder-as-a-Service™ platform," said Ari Paparo, Co-Founder & CEO, Beeswax. "It's exciting to help IBM Watson unlock AI-driven, predictive dynamic creative for more relevant advertising that gets smarter over time." "As a company that has been integrating IBM Watson into our platform for over five years, our team at Influential has seen, firsthand, how crucial AI is in identifying the right influencers, targeting audiences, and delivering content at scale," said Ryan Detert, Chief Operating Officer, Influential. Statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.  About IBM Watson:Watson is IBM's AI technology for business, helping organizations to better predict and shape future outcomes, automate complex processes, and optimize employees' time. Watson has evolved from an IBM Research project, to experimentation, to a scaled set of products that run anywhere. With more than 30,000 client engagements, Watson is being applied by leading global brands across a variety of industries to transform how people work. To learn more, visit: https://www.ibm.com/watson. Contact:Megan Levinsonmegan.levinson@ibm.com SOURCE IBM